Interview: Mark Ward on Americana and Collaborating with éS

It feels amazing. When I get an email from someone on a skate-related project... it rings excitement in my gut. It just brings the whole world of Americana together. It's great as well living in London being able to contribute to that scene that is American-based….When you work on Nike or someone like that it doesn't always have to be connected to that world of skating. It's always nice to have that in your tool box and be able to apply that to other things. I think I've made it my own...it's nice to be able to add that touch to add to projects.

How do you decide which projects taken on?

When someone says it's an artist project. And it's like, “Ok if you want me and put my name on it, you have to let me do what I do”. If it's more of a commercial piece like Mountain Dew you've got to work to a brief. They're working with me so they've got my aesthetic in there. You've got to be malleable to what that job is. You can put ideas forward but they have to be aware that they won't always be accepted. When it comes to artist projects you kind of have to stand your ground. I've never been in that situation where someone's asked me as an artist to do some stuff for them and then change it. If I ever was, I would be standing by my art.